The Conversation

  Once Upon A Dystopia … housing became a human right. Millions of people were homeless. Hundreds died of exposure every year. Most of those affected were veterans in need of medical care. The people had had enough. But they hadn’t, yet. Those without homes or preferred nomadic lifestyles were less likely to vote, and therefore their concerns drowned out by superfluous issues that the housed could focus on. When a generation was unable to afford a comfortable and consistent roof over their heads, the people decided that housing was a problem worth solving. The Human Rights Amendment narrowly passed on its tenth iteration, but it was responsible for, among other things, providing a stable roof over every citizen in the country for those who wanted one. The HRA was inspired when its prototype, the Equal Rights Amendment, failed a decades’ long battle to pass. The Housing Rights Article in the HRA is the third in the amendment, in honor of the original Constitution’s original third pu

                 Time published an article on 4/20 titled “New Report Finds That Book Bans Have Reached Their Highest Levels Yet.” As an avid reader I am immediately bothered by this, but I think it is worth explaining why.               First, over half the country is functionally illiterate, and even more don’t like to read, so who are we banning books for, anyway? It’s not like online ads that subliminally change your thinking. If you want to read a book, you have to physically get it, let someone else know what you’re reading (checking it out of a library or buying it in a store), and spend hours reading the material, depending on how fast you read. Reading is also self-selecting, as you can figure out by the book cover and back if you want to spend the time to decipher its contents. Reading social media and news is anonymous (except for the data points being collected on your online behavior), short, and based on what will keep you online, not what will enrich your life. Oh yeah

Lawyer argues fetus of jailed pregnant woman is being illegally detained.  By The Guardian  -  February 23rd, 2023     Okay, this is treasure trove of hot button issues, and in my desire to make everyone happy, this gave me pause because of the quagmire fetal rights is becoming. Basically, a woman in Florida is pregnant and being held without bail awaiting trial and alleges she is not getting adequate care and the fetus is being jailed unconstitutionally. So many issues to unpack in this one.     First, there is the can of worms that is giving an unborn fetus the same rights as an autonomous, living person. I'm not sure how I feel about this movement and find it hard to discuss because it is such an emotional issue for so many people, including myself. I think the first thing we can do is stop doing the Either-Or argument with fetus and mother. Mom and fetus have equal weight until it has a bearing on the economy and governmental health, then the mother gets precedent because she i